Rio Ferdinand has claimed Manchester United are closer to winning the Premier League title than Arsenal are.
The Gunners have not won the English top-flight trophy since going unbeaten in their famous Invincibles season in 2003/04, while Man United have not been champions of England since Sir Alex Ferguson's final term in charge in 2012/13.
Nowadays, the realistic target for both clubs is to finish in the top four, with the incredible consistency of Manchester City and Liverpool proving too much for the teams below them.
As it stands right now, Man United are in fourth position on 47 points, while Arsenal are in sixth on 45, but the Gunners have played three games less than their top four rivals.
One win out of those three games in hand for Arsenal would see them climb above United, but despite this, Old Trafford icon Ferdinand thinks his former club are closer to challenging for the title than the Gunners are.
Speaking on his Vibe with FIVE podcast on YouTube, Ferdinand said: "I think Man United have to write off the next year or two and say ‘we are going to rebuild’, minimum.
"You can’t have that transition and win. It doesn’t happen. Liverpool didn’t do it. How long did it take [Jurgen] Klopp to win? Man United aren’t in a position to challenge for trophies – the big trophies, the Premier League and the Champions League.
"You can take the FA Cup, but it doesn’t tell you that you are a great team or your teams going to challenge for the league. Arsenal have proved to be an example of that.
"Wimbledon won the FA Cup, they were never going to win the league. Arsenal won the FA Cup in recent seasons, they were never going to be anywhere near winning the league. You (Arsenal) are further away than Man United are, in terms of winning the league. You are below us (in the table)."
Speaking in November 2020, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta insisted "a few transfer windows at least" were needed at the north London club before they could mount a serious title challenge.
When asked if his side could challenge for the Premier League title, Arteta said: "That (will) take a few windows at least to do that. To establish yourself to compete at the level of certain clubs in this league, which is nearly 100 points, it takes time.
"In football, time is very precious and people are very impatient. But if you don't respect the processes and you ask certain people to do certain things when the foundations are not there, it's a really dangerous thing to do.
"I know we all want to see Arsenal at the top of the league. My only intention every time is to prepare the football match. Where we get, time will tell. There's still a lot of things that are going to happen.
"We have to prepare for difficult moments. We knew that right from the start because it's not something that has happened in the last year - it has happened many years in the past.
"To flick that into a league with 38 games; that's a big challenge. But we're all ready."
